Manish sparks as Bagan win comfortably

September 8, 2010

Mohun Bagan defeated Kalighat MS by 4-1. The pressure was on Home Team as they had suffered a shocking defeat in the last match. Barreto, the dependable, was not in starting lineup as he had not recovered fully from the injury since last match. Coach Stanly Rozario did not take any risk with Barreto ahead of crucial encounter against Chirag on next Sunday. Stanley made some more changes in the stating line up as Snehasis, Manish Maithani and Sk. Azim came in place of Ishfaq, Rahul Kumar and Dhanrajan . Not much improvement was visible during the opening half and the situation got though when Bapi Das of Kalighat Milan Sangha scored a goal by taking the chance of late covering of Okwy Diamondstar in 43rd minute. But in the 2nd half Bagan came back to the business heavily and get rid of KMS comfortably.

From the starting of the match it was a boring game played by the mariners. At times KMS displayed better skills than Mohun Bagan as Christopher of KMS kept Bagan defence busy. On the other hand Muritala and Chidi were trying their best but failed to capitalize half chances. In the 12th minute of the match Muritala rushed into the KMS box with the ball and instead taking shot directly he tried to pass it to Chidi but KMS defender could manage to clear the ball before Chiddi could act on it. Immediate after that move Manish Maithani took a long ranger from the edge of the penalty box but it went high. Indeed his effort was good but not enough to break KMS defence. In the 18th minute Christopher of KMS took a long ranger from right side of the penalty box but missed the target by couple of inches. It could have been dangerous for Bagan because Sangram was not in best position to save the ball. In remaining period the first Bagan tried to build some attack but unfortunately all went in vain. On the contrary, in 42nd minute it was an attack by KMS and Christopher again reached to the penalty box of Bagan and took a shot to goal from angle, Sangram was not able to clear it and Bapi Das ran into the six yards box and put it into the Bagan’s net (0-1). Diamondstar was not able to tackle him. Diamond has to be more fast otherwise against big guns Bagan may face shocking result. Just before end of the first half Kingshuk Debnath was shown yellow card by referee Debasish Mishra because of rough tackle.

Mohun Bagan started off the second half with style. In 55th minute Manish Maithani scored a brilliant goal by his right footer and level the score (1-1). It was a free-kick taken by Snehasis and the ball came to Manish and he took a shot between the legs of KMS players. After that Bagan displayed impressive football which helped them to build more pressure on opponent’s box. In the mean time Manish again took the similar kind of shot from which he scored but the substitute goal keeper of KMS Debjit Majumder saved this time. In the 64th minute Coach Stanly made double substitution – Barreto come in place of Diamondstar and Karan Atwal in place of Jayanta Sen. Then on Bagan changed the formation and went for all out attack with 4-3-3 combination.

In the 68th minute Chidi scored a brilliant goal by his left foot by keeping two KMS players in his right. And after that Bagan started to make waves of attack to the KMS defence. As a result of that in the 80th minute Muritala scored a superb goal from a Surabuddin cross. (3-1). In the 84th minute from a Snehasis corner Muritala was just inches away to head the ball inside the net, other wise it could have been fourth for Bagan and second for Muritala. But it was not so late, just a minute later Chidi got the ball at the midfield area and beat two defenders, goalkeeper and keep the ball into the net from right side of the box (4-1). It was a Chidi magic at Mohun Bagan Ground. There was heavy rain this time at the ground and the fans, supporters of Mohun Bagan were delighted with celebration.

Manish Maithani was adjudged Man of the Match for his impressive performace.